Washington Capitals vs. Columbus Blue Jackets - 12/16/19 NHL Picks, Odds, and Prediction

Game: Washington Capitals vs Columbus Blue Jackets

Date: Monday, December 16, 2019

Location: Nationwide Arena in Columbus, OH

TV: NSWA

Odds/Point Spread: Capitals (-155) Blue Jackets (+140)

Total/Over-Under: 6

Braden Holtby and the Washington Capitals (24-5-5, 1st in the Metropolitan Division) head to Nationwide Arena on Monday where they'll meet the Columbus Blue Jackets (12-14-6, 7th in the Metropolitan Division). The Blue Jackets open this game at +140 while the Capitals are coming in at -155. The total has been set at 6. The Capitals are covering 67.7% of the time, having gone 21-10 SU. Columbus is covering 37.5% of the time, going 12-20 straight up.

The Washington Capitals head into this game with a record of 24 wins and 5 defeats, ranking them 1st in the Metropolitan Division. Thus far in the season, they have racked up a total of 122 goals which ranks them 1st in the conference and 1st in the NHL. Their goal differential is +27, ranking them 3rd in the NHL. The Capitals have earned a total of 53 points, which ranks them 1st in the NHL and 1st in the East. When talking about shots toward the net, they have earned a total of 1,068 which ranks them 8th in the Eastern Conference and 12th in the NHL. As a group, Washington has a total of 780 hits which means they have an average of 22.9 per contest. They have earned a total of 400 blocks for the season. The man in the crease for Washington is Braden Holtby from Lloydminster, Saskatchewan. He is 30 years old and has totaled 1,412 mins minding the net for the year. Holtby is conceding an average of 2.80 goals per game which places him at 16th in the Eastern Conference and 32nd in the NHL. So far this season, he's surrendered 66 goals. He has a save percentage of .911 which places him at 16th in the Eastern Conference.

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The Washington Capitals were on the winning side of the scoreboard with a 5 - 2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in their previous contest. The Capitals had a impressive offensive outing in the win. For this matchup, they converted 5 out of the 34 shots they put on net. Furthermore, they had 2 power play opportunities but weren't able to score a goal. Washington earned a total of 10 penalty minutes in this outing. The Corsi for the Capitals was 38 and the Corsi against was 44 which tells us they had a Corsi percentage of 46.3%. Their Fenwick sat at 32 and the Fenwick against at even strength sat at 28, telling us they have a Fenwick percentage of 53.3%. They earned 25 face-off wins at even strength and lost 16 of the face-offs. The offensive zone starts for them were rated at 31.2% and they had a PDO at even strength of 113.3 for this game. When it comes to their opponent, the Tampa Bay Lightning earned 28 shots. They finished with a total of 4 penalty mins and they tallied 5 power play attempts.

The Blue Jackets will be the team across the ice and for the campaign they sit with 12 wins and 14 defeats. With regard to goal differential, they are currently ranked 14th in the conference and 27th in the NHL with -18. They have earned a total of 79 goals for the season which has them at 14th in the East. Columbus has a team save percentage of .898 which has them 24th in the NHL, meaning there could be plenty of chances to score if they are aggressive. They are shooting 7.4% ranking them 16th in the conference. In net for Columbus is Joonas Korpisalo who is having a marginal campaign by allowing 2.73 GAA and that places him 15th among East goaltenders and 26th among goalies in the NHL. In the 1,448 minutes he's been on the ice this season, he has given up 66 goals. His save percentage is .906, which has him ranking 20th among East goaltenders and 41st among goalies in the NHL.

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The Columbus Blue Jackets faced the Ottawa Senators in a matchup where the Blue Jackets took the defeat by a final score of 4 - 3. In this game, Columbus wound up with a 55.1% Corsi rating. They got there by having a Corsi of 59 while the opposition had a Corsi of 48. Their Fenwick percentage was 59.5% with a Fenwick of 50 and the Senators finishing with a 34 Fenwick. This Corsi percentage speaks to the kind of game that Columbus played and you can say they had a mediocre outing. They had a PDO at even strength of 95.6 and they finished this one with an oZS percentage of 55.4%. The Blue Jackets converted 3 goals of the 41 shots on goal they were seeking. They had 4 power play opportunities in this game but didn't score a goal. Concerning the opposition, the Senators had 3 power play chances and ended up scoring 1 goal. Columbus allowed 27 shots on goal and the Senators had a total of 13 penalty mins.

Who will win tonight's NHL game against the spread?

Tony's Pick: Take Washington (-155)

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